eradIcate

t. [Lat. eradicatus, pa. par, of eradico: e = ex =out, and radix (gen it. radicis )=a root; Sp. eradicar; Ital. eradicare.] *1. Lit .: To tear or pull up by the roots; to root up or out. "He suffer eth the poison of Nubia to be gathered, and aconite to be eradicated, yet this not to be moved." Browne . 2. Fig .: To root out, to extirpate, to destroy or do away with completely; to exterminate. "No kind of institution will be sufficient to eradicate these natural notions out of the minds of Natural Religion, bk. i., ch. iv. " IMG:content-1110.png:[ocr errors] Crabb thus discriminates between to eradicate , to extirpate, and to exterminate: "To eradicate , from radix the root, is to get out by the root: extir pate , from ex and stirps the stem, is to get out the stock, to destroy it thoroughly. In the natural sense we may eradicate noxious weeds whenever pull them from the ground; but we can never extirpate all noxious weeds, as they always di emi. nate their seeds and spring up afresh. These words are seldomer used in the physical than in the moral sense; where the former is applied to such objects as are conceived to be plucked up by the roots, as habits, vices, abuses, evils; and the latter to what. ever is united, or supposed to be united into a race or family, and is destroyed root and branch. Exter minate. signifies to cast out of the boundaries, that is, out of existence. It is used only in regard to such things as have life, and designates a violent and immediate action: extirpate , on the other hand, may designate a progre ive action: the former may be said of individuals, but the latter is employed in the collective sense only. Plague, pestilence, famine extirpate ; the sword exterminates ." (Crabb: Eng. Synon.)